Reflecting on the past year and visioning the upcoming one during the fall season has become an important part of my self-care and spiritual routine. Peering into the coming year with the moon and astrology reduces stress, anxiety, and the fear of the unknown by providing insights into future events and encouraging healthy coping strategies and proactive planning. Let’s explore ways you can anticipate and adapt to the changing energies of the coming year.
One of the spiritual practices I embark on in the fall is reflecting on the past year then planning and visioning the year ahead.
I spend a lot of time doing this. In fact, it’s a pretty in-depth process I go through and it has become a meaningful part of my spiritual practice and a necessary part of my yearly self-care routine. In the chaos and complexity of life, I need to locate myself spiritually, energetically and emotionally then I need to root myself in what matters to me before I greet the new year.
In order to do this, one of the first steps I take is to get a feel for what’s going on cosmically and collectively. Attuning to the energy around me has become an important step in this planning and visioning process I go through ever autumn. My highly sensitive body needs to feel the heartbeat of the world around me so I can create harmony between my outer world and my inner self before I set intentions for the new year.
Peering into the coming year is like a road map guiding you through what’s up ahead.
Peering into the year ahead provides a sense of preparedness, an emotional and energetic grounding, creating a sanctuary of peace and stability for my nervous system. This practice becomes my compass. I end up feeling like no matter what the future holds, I am connected and grounded and ready to face what greets me. It doesn’t make me invincible or impervious to the ups and downs of life but it does comfort and steady me.
When you take the time to look forward and prepare for what’s coming—be it emotionally, spiritually, or energetically—it’s like giving yourself a road map for what could be a challenging journey (because let’s face it, there are always bumps in the road!) Knowing what to expect offers a small sense of control. It’s comforting to have an idea of what’s coming up in the year ahead and exploring for a moment how you might deal with it. It also reduces stress and anxiety, making daily life feel a little more manageable. You can’t forsee and plan for everything but you can set yourself up with a good foundation.
The unknown can be scary. Having insight into what’s to come can make the coming year seem less intimidating and less fear is always great for my nervous system. Plus, if I know what’s coming, I can make plans and strategies to handle it which can reduce that feeling of overwhelm. And this, of course, reduces the impact of stress which is, again, gold for my nervous system. And when I can foresee challenges, I’m more likely to engage in healthy coping mechanisms, versus falling into destructive ones because I felt overwhelmed or taken by surprise. Anticipating future emotional, spiritual, and energetic shifts can act like a safety net, catching me when life gets a bit tricky. It’s like packing an umbrella because I know it might rain. That umbrella will help me avoid getting soaked. I’ll stay dry. It’s one simple action that brought a little more ease to my day. Getting a sense of the emotional and energetic collective experience for the year ahead is like that for me.
It’s a simple practice that can bring a lot more ease into the coming year.
I peer into the year ahead in a few different ways. I do some intuitive peering into the year ahead and I share all those techniques with great detail and with step-by-step instructions in my course “Art Journal with the Moon to Plan and Vision the Year Ahead” but today I want to talk a little about peering into the year ahead with astrology.
Start with the Moon
My astrology begins with the moon. When I plan and vision for the year ahead, I start with the moon. I take my day timer and calendar for the year ahead and I plot out all the new and full moons and the astrological sign each of those moons will be in. I take a moment to soak in that information and feel into that lunar rhythm. I’m a visual learner, so I often have to see it plotted out on my calendar before I can really feel into it. Seeing the journey the moon will travel in the year ahead plotted out like that in my calendar settles something inside me.
Each new moon and full moon is like a beat of the universe’s heart, marking time in a profound and eternal way.
Seeing these cycles on my calendar is calming because it provides a sense of order and predictability in a world that can often feel unpredictable. It’s like having a steady heartbeat in the background of my daily life, reminding me of the natural order and the bigger picture I am part of.
Knowing when each phase of the moon will occur allows me to prepare and align my energy and intentions with it. It’s comforting to know that no matter what happens in my life, the moon will continue marking time with its waxing and waning. This alignment provides a sense of stability and grounding, a reminder that I am intimately connected to the cosmos. It’s a reminder that I am not alone, that I am part of something much larger, majestic, and beautifully ordered.
Dig a Little Deeper
After I’ve connected with the moon, I get an intuitive feel for the coming year. As I mentioned earlier, I outline those steps in detail in my course “Art Journal with the Moon to Plan and Vision the Year Ahead”. Next, I peer a little deeper again and get a feel for the astrology of the coming year. I’m not an astrologer but I study it a lot and listen to a lot of astrologers because my spiritual journey with the moon led me down that path. Astrology is like a deep conversation between the earth and the sky. It’s a way to understand ourselves and our lives by looking at the stars, the planets, and how they move and align.
Imagine the sky is a big, beautiful clock. Every planet moving is a cog in a wheel that influences everything else. Astrologers watch how the stars and planets move and interact, believing that each celestial body has its own personality and influence. For instance, Mars might bring energy and courage, while Venus might gift us with love and beauty. By understanding these celestial influences and how they dance across the sky in the coming year, I can prepare myself for the challenges to come and plan to use the best of the energy to my advantage.
Astrology is like having a cosmic map. It’s a way to navigate life by watching the stars and planets, learning about their stories, and seeing how their stories intertwine with my own here on Earth.
Looking forward into the year ahead with astrology gives me clues about the upcoming seasons. It gives a glimpse into the potential challenges and opportunities that await me, allowing me to prepare my mind and spirit for what’s to come.
The act of peering into the future also helps me make sense of the world and my place in it. It allows me to navigate the year ahead with an enlightened heart and a hopeful spirit. It doesn’t chain my fate to the stars but rather illuminates possibilities, encouraging me to play my part with more wisdom and intention. It’s like having a lantern in the dark unknown of the future, casting a little light that allows me to step forward with more wisdom.
Step Forward with Wisdom
Let me give you a small example.
In 2020, I heard the astrologers I follow talk about how we left a 200 year cycle where we were in earth energy and now we’re in a new 200 year cycle where the major astrological conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn are in air energy. Together, Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions signal key moments in the formation of our shared collective reality. Earth energy is stable and solid. It can also have you feeling stuck for longer periods of time. Air energy, on the other hand, is constantly changing. When you’re in air energy, things will not be as they were before. It’s harder to find a stable center. It’s hard to emotionally catch up with all the changes you’ll experience in your life. It’s like standing in the wind – air swirling all around you. It feels like so much happening at the same time.
Air energy brings change and we’re in that cycle for 200 years so in my lifetime the energy all around me – the collective energy – is going to feel a lot less grounded. Hearing that I realized, I will have to do the inner work necessary to stay centered and find my inner sanctuary because the world around me will feel more chaotic than I am used to. All the chaos and the changes are not bad but they will feel unsettling and they can trigger anxiety.
This all played out with the major changes that came in the spring of 2020 and peering into the year ahead like I did, I was able to feel more grounded and stable while chaos swirled around me because I expected it. I now expect the world to feel like it’s changing at a rate I did not experience in my youth. I don’t have the expectation that things will “go back to normal”. I don’t expect that how things used to be in my youth is how they should be now. Air energy is not earth energy and understanding that the collective consciousness is mostly air energy for a long while, I can develop the skills I need to stay grounded in the ever-changing winds that will be swirling around me for the rest of my life.
Here’s another small example. In ancient astrology, Pluto symbolizes the underworld or what’s underneath – the hidden, the secretive, and the transformative. Pluto can represent deep transformation and renewal, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. It’s about changes that are so profound they’re like a rebirth, becoming something entirely new. In ancient times, Pluto also brought themes of power and how we use or abuse it, whether it’s through control, manipulation, or transformation for the better. So it brings themes like change, hidden power, and the deep, mysterious currents of life.
Earlier this year, Pluto moved into the sign of Aquarius but it quickly went back into the sign of Capricorn. It was just spending a bit of time in Aquarius but the sign of Aquarius is where it will be spending almost 20 years soon because in 2024 it moves into Aquarius for a long stay. Astrologically speaking, when it moved from Capricorn to Aquarius for that little bit of time in 2023, it was a big deal because astrologers were interested in what would transpire while it was in Aquarius for that short amount of time. They believed it would give them hints as to what themes and issues Pluto and Aquarius will bring us when it finally moves into that sign for its longer stay.
The astrologers I follow noted that while Pluto was in Aquarius big buzz around AI happened then when Pluto moved back into Capricorn, the AI news died down a bit. They took this to mean that AI news and issues will be a big theme of the next 20 years when Pluto moves into Aquarius for good.
In astrology, when Pluto moves into the sign of Aquarius, it’s like mixing a powerful, transformative energy (Pluto) with the innovative, forward-thinking, and communal vibes of Aquarius. Imagine Pluto as a force that digs deep and reveals hidden things, and Aquarius as the sign representing new technologies, community, and advancements. When Pluto is in Aquarius, we might expect big transformations in the realms of technology and AI, bringing forth breakthroughs that can change the way we live and connect with each other. This could mean the emergence of new, groundbreaking technologies or radical shifts in how we perceive and use technology. There might also be profound conversations and changes related to ethics, societal values, and our communal responsibilities in the age of AI and advanced technologies. How should we use AI? What safety precautions should we take? The idea is that technology and AI could go through revolutionary changes and evolve in ways we didn’t think possible, reshaping our collective future.
This information is helpful to me for several reasons. One, I hear this and realize a lot of debate, conversations and political issues will come up around AI and technology. Two, I realize a lot of fear around AI and technology will be in the air around me. Three, I realize larger forces are at play here and change is coming whether I want it to or not. Peering into the year ahead, I realize this will be one of the energies I’ll have to navigate so knowing where I stand with it all and reflecting on what I need emotionally and spiritually helps me to feel prepared for what is coming.
Peer Into the Year Ahead With Me
In my course, “Art Journal with the Moon to Plan and Vision the Year Ahead”, I summarize what I learn from the astrologers I follow about the coming year and what I think we, as highly sensitive people, might want to take into consideration as we emotionally and spiritually prepare for 2024.
I also add something to the course you won’t find anywhere else: a recording where we work with the MAP Method and your subconscious mind to emotionally and energetically prepare for 2024.
You also have access to the material for the lifetime of the course so you can revisit it year after year and start a spiritual practice to help you plan and vision the year ahead. Every year, I’ll update the course material to reflect the important moon and astrological information for the coming year – both for personal insights and the bonus entrepreneur insights as well.
Learn more or register here
Whether you join me or find a routine on your own, I hope you spend some time during the next few months releasing what you no longer need from 2023 and peering into the coming year so you feel prepared to greet whatever comes your way.
with love,
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